Verdict expected in case of American woman slain in Florence

Cheik Tidiane Diaw, from Senegal, left, sits next to an unidentified interpreter in a courtroom in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. A Florence court is debating the fate of Diaw, who is accused of murdering an American woman, Ashley Olsen, in her flat after they met at a nightclub in January 2016. (Maurizio degl'Innocenti/ANSA via AP)
(The Associated Press)

Paula Olsen, mother of slain American woman Ashley Olsen, speaks with her daughter's then boyfriend Federico Fiorentini, left, in a courtroom in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. A Florence court is debating the fate of Senegalese man Cheik Tidiane Diaw, who is accused of murdering Ashley Olsen in her flat after they met at a nightclub in January 2016. (Maurizio degl'Innocenti/ANSA via AP)
(The Associated Press)

Paula Olsen, the mother of slain American woman Ashley Olsen, looks at a picture frame as she stands next to her lawyer Michele Capecchi in a courtroom in Florence, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. A Florence court is debating the fate of Senegalise man Cheik Tidiane Diaw, who is accused of murdering Ashley Olsen in her flat after they met at a nightclub in January 2016. (Maurizio degl'Innocenti/ANSA via AP)
(The Associated Press)

FLORENCE, Italy – A Florence court is debating the fate of a Senegalese man accused of murdering an American woman in her flat after they met at a nightclub.

Ashley Olsen, 35, was found dead in her apartment Jan. 9, 2016. An autopsy found that she had been strangled and suffered skull fractures.

Police arrested Cheik Tidiane Diaw a few days later after street surveillance cameras showed him walking with Olsen toward her home that night, and DNA traces were found on a cigarette butt and condom in her apartment.

Prosecutors asked the court to convict Diaw and sentence him to the maximum life in prison. Diaw told police he and Olsen, of Summer Haven, Florida, had fought but denied strangling her.